Hard light and snoot/spot effects with fluorescent

G

GavinGear

Active member
Hey guys- I've been having some great results with the PBL 2 softbox kit that I've ordered from Steve Kaeser's site.

Here's some examples:
http://vimeo.com/12680934
http://vimeo.com/11495398
Stills: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60238607@N00/sets/72157623942461185/

Now, I'm looking for harder light effects and "spot" (snooted as if from barn door or flash snoot) effects.

I'm not getting this with fluorescent. I'm thinking to get some tungsten lights for that.

Before I jump on this, anyone able to get spot/snoot effects with fluorescent? (all dark except highlights on a product shot, etc)?

I'm using these lights for both photo and video.
 
You will never be able to get decent spot effects from flo's. The nearest you will get is with the Kino FLo Para Beam and it is a poor substitute for a 1k fresnel at many times the cost.
 
Thanks for the validation- I won't try :)

I'm currently thinking to go with something like an Arri 650, or a Lowel Omni (start with single light, gel as needed to get both types of lights to work together and add more hot lights later...).

Both the Arri Fresnel and the Omni are focusable. In either case I'd like to throw barndoors on - does anyone have experience with both that they could share for pros/cons? (for photo and video)

Thanks,
Gavin
 
Just get a mole tweenie. Much cheaper, great design, and the industry standard.

Plus, can you pass up a light with such a funny name? Probably not.
 
The Tweenie name comes from Mole but is now used generically for any 650W fresnel. They're versatile and great lights to have from any name brand maker and they hold up well so you can save money on a good used one. I have a couple of Altmans and use them all the time.

Lowel Omnis are less expensive and useful too, I have several, but they are slightly focusable open faced fixtures that do not have the smooth evenness across the entire beam that a fresnel has from wide to spot.

The Lowel DP, I have a couple of those too, is another good slightly focusable open faced fixture but it has a wider reflector and will take a 1K globe.

Lowel lights are great if you take care of them but they are meant to be light weight for travel and location use. Though I have a lot of respect for Lowel the barndoors on both the Omnis and DPs are flimsy and troublesome. I use both of those lamps for hard sources and because of their light weight for tasks such as hanging them on the end of a menace arm when I want a pool of light coming from above. They're good to bounce off something as well and to bring up the ambient light level in a room by bouncing off the ceiling or a corner or bounce board, etc. You can do terrific key and fill for an interview with a single Omni and a bounce board.

Snoots? I have some but I find they are not long enough to do the job and now I almost always snoot a lamp with blackwrap. Works great and you can make it as tight or wide as you like. Just make a cylinder of the stuff and clip it on the barn doors.

BTW, my favorite Lowel light, and I absolutely love the dozen I have, is a 250W Lowel Pro. They are great little peppers/inkies/betweenies/inbetweenies. I often use them with dimmers and gel them with some half blue if they get too warm in color. They're wonderful as hair lights, kickers, specials, etc.

My advice agrees with others above - get a Tweenie with doors and enjoy a workhouse fixture forever.
 
Thanks for the info.

Can someone outline the main capability differences between a fresnel and a non-fresnel light in terms of the beam, focus, etc? I know they put out light that's more "parallel".

Thanks!
 
Just scored two "like new" Lowel DP's with two bulbs each and two sets of barndoors for $320 delivered. I think this will be a great starter set to complement what I have. Thanks all.
 
GavinGear said:
Just scored two "like new" Lowel DP's with two bulbs each and two sets of barndoors for $320 delivered. I think this will be a great starter set to complement what I have. Thanks all.
Click to expand...

Yes, please post after you get some use from them. I am in the same boat as you are. I'm also planning on buying one of these as well.

So are you planning on playing around with gels to get this light working with your soft light? This is why I would like to get this, to play around with different gels/colors and see how it looks when combined with flo light.
 
Will do. I'm not sure I'll have to mix them since I'll have two hot lights, and can use reflectors for fill. Should be fun!
 
Snoots are a great investment for your lights, especially if you do alot of tabletop product work, and they are also useful for film noir type lighting.
You might also consider having a Source 4 brand, ellipsoidal light, which has built in "barn doors", an optional iris, and are usually either 750 watts or 500 watt lamps. They can be ordered with different lenses, depending on how tight a spot that you want, and there is also the option to get a mount for a light stand, as most people that buy them get them with a pipe clamp, to hang them in theaters and stages. There is even an option to utilize them on a daylight balanced light, by purchasing a "Bug a Beam" adapter from K5600, to adapt them to a 400 Joker Bug light.
Good luck.
 
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